


The Reunion

by lunalikespace



Series: Don't Say Goodbye (ChellDOS) [2]
Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Android GLaDOS, F/F, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28869774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunalikespace/pseuds/lunalikespace
Summary: Chell returns to Aperture Science when she finds out that her freedom isn't all its cracked up to be. GLaDOS, surprisingly, welcomes her back with open arms.
Relationships: Chell/GLaDOS
Series: Don't Say Goodbye (ChellDOS) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958686
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	The Reunion

The first change she noticed was the air. More specifically, the lack of adrenal vapors in the air, which caused a nagging pang of hunger in her stomach and a dry thirst in her throat. Soon after her head began throbbing, for which she assumed was a lack of sleep. Chell walked on and on for miles until she dropped somewhere under a distant tree. 

She awoke and trudged onward, determined to find civilization. But all she could see for miles was golden wheat fields with the occasional maple tree. But panic flooded her body when she turned around and realized she could no longer see the white tin shed that held the doorway to Aperture. 

Chell shook her head. She could hear her voice echo in her head. “ _ I have an infinite capacity for knowledge, and even I'm not sure what's going on outside.”  _ It was something she uttered in complete distress, but now Chell was pondering how much thought was put into her statement. She knew everything, didn’t she? Did she know the world was deserted? 

It wasn’t so much the lonesomeness that bothered her, it was the unknown cause that filled Chell with fear. Why was the landscape so barren? She tried to not let it consume her, but the question posed itself all around her. It was an inescapable query. 

All of the troubles surrounding her clogged her brain, keeping her from thinking straight. She didn’t want to keep walking, keep fighting. She just wanted to  _ be _ . Worst of all, Chell couldn’t get  _ her _ out of her mind. She couldn’t ignore that something changed between the two of them in the bowels of Aperture. There was some sort of unbreakable bond between them after everything they had gone through. 

Somewhere in her mind, Chell made the decision to turn around, though she swore she didn’t remember. 

  
  
  


When she finally reached the shed, she felt like she was going to collapse again. The companion cube still nearby, burnt form being thrown in the incinerator. Chell distantly thought that that felt like a lifetime ago. She ran her hand across the surface of the cube, before turning to the shed. She hesitantly opened the door. The elevator was still there, open and all, just begging to be used. 

Chell turned around. She looked at the blue sky full of white, puffy clouds. She looked at the golden wheat field that surrounded her for miles. She took one last deep breath of the natural air before she turned back around and stepped into the elevator. 

  
  
  


Chell hadn’t remembered ever closing her eyes, but when she opened them, she was met with an empty room that looked eerily familiar. It took her a minute to place it, but she realized it looked nearly identical to the relaxation vault she woken up in not too long ago. She was trying to remember what happened when she stepped out of the elevator upon the door opening. 

“Oh, you’re awake.” GLaDOS said flatly, clipboard in one hand. 

Chell’s mouth hung agape in confusion as she sputtered for a response. 

“Yes, I know, it’s crazy what I can accomplish in such a short amount of time.” She said, in reference to the fact that she was a  _ person _ standing in front of Chell. “But that’s not what’s important right now. Are you alright?” 

Chell nodded wordlessly, still mostly at a loss for words. 

“Why is this so shocking, I was a potato before and you weren’t  _ nearly _ this flabbergasted.” GLaDOS said. “I made an android body to get to more remote parts of the facility.” 

Chell nodded, hesitantly. It was certainly a lot to take in. GLaDOS was a bit shorter than Chell herself was, perhaps around 5’4 with a smaller frame. Her choppy bob was platinum blonde and framed her face in a nice way. Her eyes were an unsettling yellow, just like her chassis, and right below her cheekbones you could see where metal met skin (or at least, what  _ appeared  _ to be skin, Chell wasn’t sure how real it was) and two thick lines ran down the bottom half of her face and neck and all the way down her arms. She wore a standard Aperture Science shirt and pants with a pristine white lab coat on top. 

“Honestly, I'm surprised you were able to last as long as you did up there. Did you enjoy it? Find everything you were looking for?” GLaDOS asked snarkily. 

Her words had a little bite to them but Chell shook it off. She didn’t respond with words and instead just shrugged vaguely. 

“Mm, I see. Well, what is it that brings you back?” GLaDOS asked, crossing her arms. 

Ah yes, that fatal question. Chell wasn’t even sure if she had an answer herself. She didn’t think about what would happen when she got here, she was just determined to make it first. She realized distantly that she had a bad habit of doing that. 

Chell cleared her throat, her voice coming out hoarse from lack of use. “The surface wasn’t what it was cracked up to be,” She paused, avoiding GLaDOS’s piercing gaze, “and… I missed you.” 

GLaDOS was so shocked she couldn’t even properly form a response. 

“I know that you set me free because it was the right thing to do, but, I want to be here. This is where I belong. And, in return, I can test for you or —” 

“No.” GLaDOS said firmly, interrupting her speech. Chell stared at her in response, as if asking what she meant. “I mean no, you won’t test. That will not be necessary.” 

Chell began again, “But—” 

“You can stay here all you want. I don’t need anything in return. Especially not… that.” GLaDOS said. 

Chell opened her mouth to argue again, but shut it. She couldn’t understand why on earth GLaDOS was letting her stay without anything in return, but she was grateful. 

“Besides, if you tested that would render Blue and Orange virtually useless—” a loud  _ crash  _ came from the distance and GLaDOS frowned, “—which, on second thought, might not be that bad. I’ll be back. Feel free to roam around and do whatever is it you do when you're not destroying this facility.” With that, she stormed out of the room, leaving Chell to her own devices. 

  
  
  


GLaDOS was fuming as she walked through the pristine halls of Aperture Science. It had only been a week and the mute lunatic was back. Worse yet, GLaDOS felt herself being delighted by that fact, which only pissed her off more. Why on Earth was she back? GLaDOS was the most massive collection of wisdom to ever exist, and it was frankly absurd she couldn’t figure out Chell’s motives. Her curiosity got the better of her and she couldn’t help but wonder what the surface was like. She knew it was bad, but was it really bad enough to push Chell back? 

When she entered the main room at the end of the hall, GLaDOS found the source of the crashing. None other than Atlas and P-Body throwing and Edgeless Safety Cube back and forth. One of them—Atlas—must have missed and the ball knocked into a desk that sent papers and tech flying everywhere. They both froze in place when she entered the room, being caught red handed. 

GLaDOS gave the bots a death glare and could almost feel the fear rolling off of them. “Get out of my sight before I have you permanently disassembled.” She said coldly and they both ran off. 

GLaDOS sighed, walking over to the mess they had made and began picking it up. Luckily they hadn’t done much damage. As she began reorganizing everything, she noticed one of the things that had fallen was a portal gun. Not just any portal gun, but Chell’s portal gun. After GLaDOS had regained control of the facility and pulled Chell out of the reach of space, the woman had passed out and dropped her device somewhere on the floor. In cleaning up the rubble, GLaDOS had picked it up and stored it away. Just as mementos, though. 

The portal gun only reminded her of Chell and all of the events that conspired before her departure. The two of them had forged an excellent partnership before Chell left. GLaDOS knew it was for the best, but it was still upsetting nonetheless.

Anger flared in GLaDOS’s chest. Why the hell was that upsetting? She  _ should _ want the lunatic miles away from her precious facility. She  _ should _ want absolutely nothing to do with Chell anymore. But GLaDOS couldn’t deny the connection that had formed between them during their time in old Aperture together. GLaDOS had come to an understanding with Chell. The woman had earned her respect. Chell could’ve left her down there to die being slowly pecked at by birds, but she didn’t. Chell could've slipped up so many times during a test and gotten the both of them killed, but she didn’t. Chell was so strong and brave in the face of danger, it was quite admirable— 

GLaDOS cut off her train of thought before it could go any farther. Chell had gained her trust, that was it. The least GLaDOS could do to repay her was let her stay in the facility. She stood up and picked the portal gun up off the desk again. She turned it over in her hands, never having looked at one of Aperture’s devices so close up. GLaDOS carried the device away as she exited the room. 

  
  
  


Chell was sitting in an old observation room that overlooked an empty test chamber. She was deep in thought about the whole bizarre conversation. She still couldn’t fathom why GLaDOS was being so uncharacteristically kind to her without a catch. Nothing seemed to add up.    
  


She was broken from her thoughts by the sound of footsteps behind her. “I thought you’d be here,” GLaDOS began, “I did check the cameras, of course.” 

Chell smiled to herself and glanced over at GLaDOS as if prompting her to say more. 

GLaDOS seemed to take a deep breath, even though her artificial lungs did not require such action. “I know you think that I have some sort of catch, but I don’t. You… earned my respect down there and honestly, I owe you one.” GLaDOS said. 

Chell looked at her, nodding slowly, as if digesting her words. 

GLaDOS held the former test subject’s gun out in front of her. Chell glanced down at the object in her hands before meeting her eyes again. “Besides, i'm gonna need all the help I can when I go back down there searching for answers. Are you in?” GLaDOS asked. 

Chell grinned, sticking her hand out to seal the deal. “I can’t wait.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the hiatus! 
> 
> I wrote and rewrote this fic over and over trying to get it right, so it was quite the process lmao 
> 
> I have a lot more ideas for these nerds I plan on writing, I just really wanted to get this part established. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ps: can you count how many times I referenced the in game dialogue?


End file.
